Alterations in The Lift’s Green Line

The Town of Winter Park Transit Advisory Committee (TAC) was able to reach a compromise with some disgruntled residents of the Base Camp on Jane Creek in Winter Park. At their Tuesday, October 25 meeting the TAC heard from several concerned residents of Base Camp regarding the committee’s decision to eliminate The Lift’s bus stop in front of the subdivision. Winter Park Transit Manage Michael Koch said he had received 15 letters from residents asking the TAC to change their mind on eliminating the stop.

The planned change to the bus route included combining the stops at Base Camp and nearby Iron Horse in order to allow the Lift to service the Lakota subdivision, which has not been serviced before. The original new stop for Base Camp required residents to walk several hundred feet and up a set of wooden stairs that are not maintained in the winter.

The homeowners discussed their concerns of trekking up the stairs with children and ski gear and said they found it unreasonable to have to walk that far.

Koch said that part of the TAC’s strategy for the upcoming winter was to try and eliminate duplicate stops and increase efficiency in stops. By combining stops at Iron Horse and Base Camp Koch said it would save time, and be more beneficial to the transit schedule as a whole. Koch pointed out that some of these busses run several laps of their routes without any passengers onboard and this is not conducive to an efficient transit system

Before the meting Koch said he had scouted the area and offered the residents a compromise: to combine the Base Camp and Iron Horse stops, pick up passengers in front of the Breeze Ski Rentals. The new proposed location did not require commuters to walk up stairs, though it still does not pick them up directly in front of Base Camp. After a few attempts to negotiate, the residents of Base Camp in attendance agreed to the proposal from the TAC.

The Winter Park Town Council discussed other changes to the transit system at their September 6 meeting. Town Manager Drew Nelson pointed out that the Brown and Orange lines take a very long time to complete their routes and ridership on those lines is low, so they will be combined mid-week into the Pink line, which will serve all of the same areas but allow for a two-thirds cost savings.

Nelson stated that there will be another route added, the Red line, which will allow for 15 minute service in downtown Winter Park. He also said that the Meadow Ridge Express would run in the mornings and evenings. In the middle of the day the Fraser Circulator will run through Meadow Ridge hourly and be available for on-call service.

Another reason for saving time on bus schedules is when riders request for deviated service. The bus will deviate off its route if a passenger makes a reservation in advance or requests a stop while riding. The driver will route the bus to designated stop locations.

Start a dialogue, stay on topic and be civil. If you don't follow the rules, your comment may be deleted.